Thursday, July 19, 2012

Of Dope and Discretion

Two quick things before I head out to my Thursday night ride-along.

First, a riddle: two men are consuming marijuana when a policeman walks into the room.  The man smoking the joint is arrested and charged with a misdemeanor, but the man eating it is charged with a felony.  Why?

(I'll post my answer - hey, there may be more than one correct answer, right? - over the weekend, but it has nothing to do with amounts or weights.)

Second, a quick shout out to a fellow prosecutor (former) writing novels.  Her second has just been released and is getting great reviews.  So if you're on the look-out for more summer reading, check out her book.  It's been described as a legal thriller exploring the intersection of sex and power in D.C.’s most secretive worlds.  Pretty timely, eh? (Click here to zip over to her web site.) I think her publisher is sending me a copy to review so I'll wait to say more.


6 comments:

  1. Answer: The possession of marijuna is a misdemeanor. The guy eating the marijuana tampered with evidence--a third degree felony. But I'm a prosecutor so that might be cheating! I have discussed the irony of this situation on a number of occasions.

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  2. Exactly! Where do I send the prize? Oh right, there isn't one... This makes me want to come up with more fun quiz questions, hmmm, must put my thinking cap on...

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  3. So, does eating marijuana in brownies also constitute a felony? If eating pot is tampering with evidence, presumably because the pot "disappears", why isn't smoking it also tampering (it literally goes up in smoke)? When will we learn that prohibition does not work?

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  4. I suppose technically smoking MJ could also be tampering, if the person started sucking hard on the joint as soon as the cops arrived. The image of that rather amuses me, actually. Oh, to answer your first question, it'd depend on the amounts involved. A large marijuana-laced brownie, yes.

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  5. I feel as though surprise is one thing I never lack when it comes to this country. A number of states have legalized marijuana, but Texas has yet to take that leap. Maybe because a majority of the state does not care for it? Still, Austin is a city where so many people smoke pot, it would be impossible to arrest and/or fine every person under the influence. A lot easier to just legalize it and make a profit, at least off the selling of the ID card (it is around $100 where I live), as California does.

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  6. Daisy, I have heard many people say that it's coming but we'll just have to wait and see. As tough on crime as the state is, there is also a strong 'leave me a lone' sentiment here, so who knows?!

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